Thursday, January 20, 2011

Enrollment of Muslim students in Catholic colleges has seen a steady increase in recent years, according to the Higher Education Research Institute. Last year, Catholic schools even had a higher percentage of Muslim students than the average four-year institution in the United States.

Muslim students – most often from Saudi Arabia – say they enroll at Catholic colleges for the usual reasons: strong academic programs, engaging professors and attractive campuses. But the schools’ spiritual culture has proved to be a major draw as well.

Catholic school rules line up with multiple Muslim cultural values, including daily prayer, periodic fasting and separate dorms for men and women.

By making religious worship a priority, there is some overlap between Catholic schools and Muslim faith – Muslim students can feel they fit in better in an overtly religious setting, even if it’s not their religion.

Faith Resource:

Chances are, you’ve seen the ads on NET TV from the Catholics Come Home campaign – a series of spots aimed at bringing people into the Catholic Church. The spots may seem new, but the very first Catholics Come Home ads aired in 1998. Since then, the campaign success has been nothing less than phenomenal. The people behind it claim it’s brought one hundred thousand Catholics back to the Church.

"Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward, save that of knowing that I do your will. " - St Ignatius de LoyolaLearn more about the powerful Ignatian Spirituality